Source: www.hindustantimes.com
OMKARESHWAR, INDIA, May 2, 2009: Like the Ganga, the Narmada River has thousands of devotees. Many are from far-off lands, including the “gora babas,” white sadhus. Most of these came for other reasons and stayed to lead the ascetic life after meeting their guru, leaving all behind. Omkarpuri Baba, 52, who came from France 22 years ago, says of his guru, “He gave me as much love as he would give to his own child,” he says. He swept and cooked for his guru until his death. “And prayer; that’s all,” he adds.
Narmada Shankar, 44, is originally from Austria. Clad in ochre, his has his chelas (disciples) assist him in many ways, just as he assisted his guru, Brahmachari Raghunathji Maharaj, some 20 years ago. He was once a young man training to be a Catholic priest in Austria. Setting out to find an answer to the eternal mystery, death, he ended up in Omkareshwa and met his guru. Initially dismayed, his parents visited and found him giving first aid to poor villagers at the ashram; they now regard him as a hero.
Pujari Ram Das, 53, was born in Italy. In 1975, as part of a team researching India’s holy men, he found his guru, Raghuvir Dasji, on the banks of the Narmada. He stayed with him for 20 years, until he passed away. Then “I roamed the country till I reached Janki ghat in Varanasi and learnt the puja rituals from priest Ram Palak Das. I served as the pujari in a temple in Ayodhya before the trustees of the Hanuman temple asked me to come to Indore.” He arises at 3:30 a.m. and meditates for an hour before cleaning the temple, bathing and dressing the deity, and preparing the prasad for the gods. Does he occasionally offer a prasad of pasta? The lines around his eyes deepen as he laughs, “No, only Indian fare.”